Welfare chief

Pippa Funnell asks World Horse Welfare chief executive Roly Owers to discuss his role and hopes for equine welfare

- Pippa Funnell

I was first put on a pony when I was around two-and-a-half.

I’ve never ridden to any great level but I’ve had an association with horses all my life, and rode constantly up until I left the army. I have two brothers, so we were unique to be three brothers riding in our local Pony Club branch, the Old Surrey and Burstow.

I made the Pony Club Championships one year and I rode at university for Cambridge. Through that I did a couple of international competitions in Switzerland and France. I did once beat William Fox-Pitt in a jump-off; I’m not sure he recognised the enormity of the day, but I certainly do now!

After my training, I spent three months working in a Blue Cross hospital in London.

Then I went into the army for 17 years and had postings in Northern Ireland and Melton Mowbray, but the highlight was my three years with the Household Cavalry at Knightsbridge. That was amazing.

When I left the army I went out into the world of charities by chance. A friend was working at what was then the International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH), now World Horse Welfare, and I took on a fundraising role. The chief executive position came up in 2008 and I was really lucky that my stars aligned.